The present invention relates to a golf ball in which a material molded under heat from a rubber composition serves as a ball component. More specifically, the invention relates to a golf ball having an excellent rebound and durability.
Many golf balls that use rubber compositions containing polybutadiene polymerized with a rare-earth catalyst have hitherto been described in the art. Such golf balls are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,695,716, 6,712,715, 6,786,836, 6,921,345, 6,634,961 and 6,602,941 (Patent Documents 1 to 6). However, there remains room for further improvement in the rebound performance of such golf balls. Moreover, sufficient performance has yet to be achieved as well in terms of manufacturability.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,642,314 (Patent Document 7) describes the use of an alkoxysilyl group-bearing compound-modified polybutadiene as a rubber composition for golf balls. JP-A 2007-222196 (Patent Document 8) discloses a polybutadiene obtained by additionally subjecting the modified polybutadiene of Patent Document 7 to a condensation reaction. However, in all of the above-mentioned prior art, there remains room for improvement in the rebound and durability of the resulting golf balls.                Patent Document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,716        Patent Document 2: U.S. Pat. No. 6.712,715        
Patent Document 3: U.S. Pat. No. 6,786,836                Patent Document 4: U.S. Pat. No. 6,921,345        Patent Document 5: U.S. Pat. No. 6,634,961        Patent Document 6: U.S. Pat. No. 6,602,941        Patent Document 7: U.S. Pat. No. 6.642,314        Patent Document 8: JP-A 2007-222196        